The Lonely Assassin (A Doctor Who Fanfiction)
by xXRockerChicXx
Summary: A story I originally posted on Quibblo
1. Discovered

I removed my heavy trench coat and let it fall to the floor. Next, off came the tightly buckled leather straps of my harness, and my wings were finally set free. I sighed with relief as I stretched their feathery lightness to their full span, almost touching either wall of my elongated apartment. It was good to be back home.

Well, my current home, that was. I'd had many homes over the years, when I stayed in one place and time long enough to settle down. The current time was December 2013, and the city was Edinburgh, Scotland. I'd grown quite fond of these Celtic people, and of humans in general, and so this was not my first time settling down on Earth.

Anyone that looked at me would think I was a normal human being, until they saw my wings. Or were allowed to hear my double heartbeat. Or were around when I turned to stone, or bended space-time. I'd been to many places and many times and had never encountered a creature like myself, never even heard of anything remotely close.

Which meant I was the only one of my kind in the Universe. It was lonely, sure, but it had its upsides. For one, nobody could stop me from doing what I wanted. Also, I'm pretty sure time would have gotten enormously damaged if there were multiples of me running around, unhindered and without rules. While I technically had no rules, I wasn't an idiot, and knew how to use my powers safely. I would keep my identity a secret, just observe and interact minimally with those I met, and move on. No changing things, no altering timelines. Keeping things the way they should be.

Sometimes I wondered if I should go back to when I was born, find out who my parents were and why I was abandoned as an infant, but I had no idea where I would even start. Not to mention that finding them would definitely screw up my timeline, and send ripple effects across the Universe. So I kept to myself.

Here in Edinburgh, I had a good life. I worked as a linguistics professor at the University of Edinburgh, had a nice sized apartment downtown, and generally enjoyed myself. I had been here nearly a year already, and almost didn't want to leave. I knew I had to eventually, but I intended to enjoy it as long as I could.

My school bag was laying on my sofa, full of papers to be graded, but I didn't want to do that now. I had a hard time dealing with the language these humans called 'English' while I was at the school. While I did not know exactly where or when I came from, I knew I vastly outdated English and all other human languages. I yearned to be able to interact in _my_ language. I didn't know what it was called, only that I had been able to read, write, and speak it since I was young.

No creature I'd ever interacted with knew of my language either, and I had long since settled with the notion that it was something my mind made up naturally.

There was one thing about the human languages I did enjoy, and that was music. It was by far my favorite that I had encountered, and I kept a device full with many hours of that I always brought with me wherever I went. I went to that device now, what these humans called an MP3 player, and inserted the earbuds that came with it into my ears.

I moved to the rhythm of the music as I stripped out of the rest of my clothing, glad to be out of those garments. Shirts and dresses were true hassles, because I had to personally modify them to allow for my wings to fit through. That is why I had worn a trench coat that day and nearly every day, so my bound wings would be hidden from sight. If anyone should see them, I knew I would have to leave this place, and I was not ready to do so just yet.

I went to my kitchen with the MP3 player in hand, hungry for something to eat. I wondered if it was a characteristic of my race to be extremely hungry most of the time. If I was in the mood, I could eat an entire 3-course meal by myself and still be ready for more. I sensed sometimes the urge to feed on other things, living things, but I flung away those cravings as soon as they appeared.

There was a substantial amount of chicken in the freezer, and my mouth watered at the thought of having oven-fried chicken for dinner. I removed it and set about defrosting it, but was forced to put it back when there was a knock on my door. I growled to myself and grabbed my trench coat from where I had left it on the floor.

Making sure my wings were folded flat under the heavy black coat, I cracked the door open to see a man several inches taller than I with short brown hair wearing a bowtie. I was aware enough of the current fashion trends of this time to know he was extremely out of place.

"Yes?"

"Hello, I'm from the NHS of Scotland, and I'm here to warn you about a possible gas leak in your building. If..." The man had held up a blank card, and after a fraction of a second, black letters swirled to its surface to match what he was saying.

Psychic paper. I'd come across it before, and knew immediately his story was untrue. I knew immediately he wasn't human either, because humans didn't know of that kind of technology, and wouldn't for a very long time.

I decided to play along with the man's story, just to see what he was really about. He had been jabbering about detecting a gas leak in my apartment, so I said "Give me a moment, I must get properly dressed."

I shut the door and reached for my clothes on the floor, slipping them back on before quickly hiding my leather harness in my bedroom closet. I didn't have time to buckle myself back in, so tightly cinching my trench coat would have to do. I went back to the door and opened it fully. "Please, come in."

The man smiled briefly and entered. As he passed and we briefly bumped shoulders, I caught confirmation that he definitely was not human. He had the scent of an alien, as they were called here on Earth. I suspected briefly that he was here for me, but that would have been impossible. Nobody knew about me. Nobody living, at least.

I watched as the man removed a small device from his jacket pocket and scanned nearly every surface of my apartment. Near the windows, around the sink and stove, along the floorboards...When he came to my bedroom door, I nodded for him to go in. Even if he found my harness, he wouldn't know what it was for.

I waited patiently against the wall of my apartment, giving the alien man no opportunity to catch sight of my wings. When he emerged from my bedroom, I knew immediately by his face that he had found my harness. His face was stern, serious, and I knew by then that he suspected I wasn't human either.

"Are you the one that has been going on a rampage through this city?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about, alien." His face was frozen for a moment. "You are not the only one that can tell when someone is lying about who they are. I seem to be able to do it better, as I do not have to rely on psychic paper and sonic technology."

"And how would you know of my sonic screwdriver?"

"I've been to Villengard, of course. Before it was destroyed." This man's frozen face degenerated into one of pure shock.

"How have you been to Villengard? It doesn't exist yet, and I didn't destroy it for another...3,000 years?" My mouth spread into a smirk.

"So you're not just an alien, you're a time traveler...Wonderful. It's nice to meet someone that's seen as much of the Universe as I have. Might I ask what race you are? There aren't many that have the technology to traverse through time."

"What I am is none of your concern. Who are you? What are you?"

"The first name I had was Shelby. It is the only information I know about myself that I care to share with you. Going to return the favor?"

"I go by The Doctor. I'm here investigating the disappearances of some students from the local university, and you just became my prime suspect. Care to cooperate, or must we do this the hard way?"

My suspicion and growing anger were immediately quelled. My voice was filled with panic as I asked "What students?! When?!" The Doctor looked confused. "I might not be human, but that does not mean I am inhumane. I teach linguistics at the University. My students are like my friends. We share jokes and meals and fun times, inside and outside of my classroom. I would never, _never,_ harm one of them." And that was the truth.

It was part of the reason I didn't want to leave Edinburgh. I had grown so accustomed to my job and the students I taught, I literally thought of them as my best friends. I had never had a companion in all my long life, because of having to keep my secret, but my students were as close as I had ever come to that.

"You're the only non-human I've encountered, and I've been here for three days. I followed a trail of these from the University, and just found some in your closet." From his pocket, he produced five white feathers. "They give off an enormous energy, and led me straight here."

I cursed myself. It wasn't odd for a feather to fall off here-and-there while I was wearing my harness, but nobody had ever noticed here. There were enough pigeons around to take the blame for me.

"I've never seen anything like these. Where did they come from?"

I sighed. There was no use denying they came from me. This Doctor had evidence enough of that. I unhitched my trench coat and let it fall to the floor, and my bright white wings came billowing back out of confinement. He stepped back and nearly tripped, but caught himself on the edge of my sofa. The look in his eyes told me it was obvious he'd never seen the likes of me before. I sighed. I was hoping this time-traveler would have some insight into what I was.

"Wings..? _Wings?_ What in the hêll are you?!" I shrugged. "What's that mean?"

"I don't know. I was abandoned as a baby and left to my own devices. I have powers I can't explain, like the time traveling, and I have these great big feathery wings, and I can read and speak this bizarre language...But I don't know where it all came from. Nobody I've met through the ages seems to know anything about any of it!"

"Bizarre language?" I nodded.

"When I could first speak, nobody could understand what I was saying, so I head to learn other languages. I can still write and speak it, but still, no creature can tell me what it is."

"Show me." I bent down and grabbed a folder and pen from my schoolbag. Leaning against the wall, I scribbled down a few random words and handed the Doctor the paper. He immediately stepped back with his sonic screwdriver pointed at me and shouted "Who are you!?"

"What?"

"I asked, who are you!? That is the ancient language of my people, a people that have been gone for centuries except for myself. Though, in this time, I suppose it's been millennia that they've been gone..."

"I'm sorry about your people...But I honestly do not know who I am. I don't know where I came from or who my parents were, or if there are even any others like me anywhere or any-when in the Universe. I've searched and searched and I've never been able to find anything...I'm probably all alone."

The Doctor looked at me with sad eyes, and I realized he too was all alone in the Universe. I didn't know anything about his people except that they were long dead, and he was the last one left. The terrible loneliness pulled at my heart, at both of my hearts, and made me want to embrace this strange man in a hug. I held back though, as I knew I was still suspect in whatever investigation he was conducting.

"Why don't I help you with your investigation? I'll prove to you that I'm not the one harming my students, and then we can worry over what I am all you'd like."

The Doctor seemed to shake off his depression and agreed. "Now, how will we be getting back to the University? It was hard enough finding my way here."

"This is my city, I know the way. Besides, we don't have to walk."

"Going to fly us over there?" I rolled my eyes.

"I have powers, remember? Give me your hands." The Doctor looked suspicious again, but re-pocketed his screwdriver and took both of my hands. "You can close your eyes if you want, it might help with the queasiness."

"Queasy..?" My wings encircled us and there was a loud crack, like a peal of thunder. My disappearances and reappearances always created mild electrical disturbances. I released the Doctor onto the lawn of Edinburgh University, and he very nearly vomited all over the freshly cut grass. "That queasiness...Thanks for the forewarning."

"I said to close your eyes. Teleporting is one of my weird powers I mentioned. I usually only use it when I know where I am, so I don't end up in a wall or a men's shower room or anything like that. We'll fly back if you're that uncomfortable with it though."

He took several minutes to recover before standing. "The room where the students disappeared is this way..."

He led me into the empty school, down several corridors, until we emerged in the mathematics wing. I knew the building like the back of my own hand, and he was taking me to Professor Duncan's classroom. He taught Calculus, Introduction to Topology, Analysis...All courses I wanted nothing to do with. I was extremely well-versed in mathematics, but linguistics was where I was most comfortable.

As soon as we entered the room, I felt a terrible uneasiness spread through me. I knew something very bad had been in this room.

"Was it only this classroom that was hit?"

"No, students from several others classes were taken as well...Some before or after class, some on the way back home. There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern about who goes..."

"Almost as if they're looking for someone..." The Doctor nodded and set about scanning the room. I felt the uneasiness grow within me, as if whatever had been here hadn't left. As if it was waiting and watching...

I looked around and saw nothing. I sighed; if I was going to be of any help, I might as well use my powers some more. I piped up with "When did someone go missing from this room?"

"About 8 last night, why?" I nodded and my wings wrapped around me again. "Shelby, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to find out who did this." There was another loud crack of thunder as I envisioned this same place the night before, just before the time the Doctor had mentioned.

I reappeared just outside the classroom door. I looked in to see that it was not empty, that Professor Duncan's teaching assistant was still inside. He jumped at the sound of my arrival, but looked out the windows as if to blame it on the dark clouds overhead.

To be able to observe the boy without being noticed, I did something I rarely ever had the need for; I went to the wall opposite the door and turned to face it, and willed myself to be made of stone. Turning into a statue was a power I discovered very early on, that I would often use to spy on others during my youth.

I could still see straight into Professor Duncan's doorway, and watched his assistant work. Minutes passed and nothing happened. The assistant seemed to be cleaning up from that day's classes, and when he was done, grabbed a bag from the Professor's desk.

I watched him come towards the doorway and open it, but he was frozen in his tracks. His fear-filled eyes stared up at the ceiling as a fog of green mist descended into the hallway. In my statue form I was unaffected, but the boy before me was not so lucky. He screamed in terror as the fog seized him and dragged him away, without any kind of explanation.

I returned to my usual self and back to the Doctor. After the crash of thunder, the Doctor came to me and asked "Where did you go?!"

"I went to last night, to when the boy was taken." The Doctor again looked astonished. "He was just leaving this classroom when some kind of green fog came down from the ceiling and dragged him off."

The Astonishment turned to recognition. "Green fog...I didn't know _it_ was active on Earth this far in the past."

"Who?"

"Fegovy...It is an artificial creature that seeks out valuable items and beings across the whole of space. I've encountered it before, centuries into the future...I see no reason why it would be kidnapping college students...Unless..." The Doctor's dark green eyes found mine and I knew what he was thinking.

This 'Fegovy' must have been looking for me. Or for a very powerful creature, which in this case, was also me.

I sighed. "I haven't been paying close enough attention...I've gotten too comfortable here..." I suppressed a sob as I continued. "I'll have to leave..."

"No, no, no...We will get rid of Fegovy as I have before, and you can go back to teaching." I shook my head.

"If one creature has sensed my presence, others will begin to as well. I have stayed far too long already."

The Doctor looked ready to speak when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted movement. Green, misty movement. I spun to see the green fog that was Fegovy spilling out of the ceiling again, headed straight for the Doctor and I.

"By chance, how did you escape from this thing last time?"

"I tricked it into going after my homeworld. Don't think it's going to work this time." The green mist continued to descend. "Haven't got any more special tricks up your sleeve, have you?"

"I might have a few."

My mind ran through all the possibilities. I could attack it, but it was mist, so that wouldn't work. I could hit it with an energy blast, but again, mist. This things obviously had a limited intelligence if it was tricked into going after a dead world, but I didn't see how that could be used to my advantage...

I would have to use my time powers. I prayed this building was sturdy, or it wouldn't be able to take the beating I was about to give it.

I summoned my powers of time and space, forcing them into a single dark entity before me. The Doctor gasped at my creation.

It was a tiny black hole, about the size of a grapefruit, but powerful nonetheless. As soon as I punched a hole in time, the room went into chaos. What papers had been on the desk now swirled about in the air, and the green mist gave off a terrifyingly mechanical scream.

It screamed and squealed and shouted until it was completely devoured, and I immediately neutralized my creation and absorbed it back into myself.

I swooned and very nearly fell, but the Doctor sprinted to my side to catch me. With panting breaths I said "I haven't used my powers on that scale before...Forgive me if I'm a little out of practice." I chuckled breathlessly.

"Creating and then destroying a black hole in the middle of a classroom...You'll have to explain to me how you do that. Where is he?"

"In the future...A few centuries in the future. I thought it best to send him where you said he'd already be." I chuckled again. "Just because I'm a rogue, doesn't mean I don't play by the rules..."

It was becoming harder and harder to breathe, and when I looked down, I discovered why. I was reverting back to stone. My exertion had weakened me more than I thought it did.

"I need...I need energy..." If I didn't get some form of sustenance, my body would completely revert to its statue form until it recovered itself. "Get me...out of here..."

The Doctor half-supported me as we made our way out of the school. I couldn't fly back to my apartment in my condition. We would've dropped out of the sky like, well, a rock.

The Doctor dragged me not far from the school, to a blue box with 'Police Public Call Box' stamped around the top. "What...is this..?"

"Don't worry about that, just get inside." He pulled out a key and unlocked the door and pulled me inside.

I nearly collapsed on the floor, but he dragged me over to some great big control panel and began fiddling with it. I bent over hands-on-knees, thinking this was past the point of no return...

And then my aching was gone. Confused, I wrenched up my shirt to see the stone area was melting away, replaced with my own natural skin. I felt...rejuvenated. Powerful.

Hungry. Oh _so_ hungry...

My joy at avoiding my stone phase turned to horror. This place, whatever this thing was that the Doctor had brought me into, was giving off immense amounts of energy. Energy that was feeding me, but also making me yearn for more...The desire swept through my brain like a flood and I knew I had to get out of there.

I stood and ran for the door as the Doctor shouted "Shelby!"

I threw it open and jumped out onto the soft green grass of Edinburgh University. The great lust for energy began to subside immediately. Whatever that thing was that the Doctor was in...It pulled at my desires like nothing every before. I had very nearly lost control.

The Doctor followed me out, scanning the ground until he spotted me several yards away, laying face-up in the grass. He knelt by my side and worriedly asked "Are you alright, Shelby?"

I shook my head. "That thing that you took me into...What is it?"

"The TARDIS, I use it to travel through space and time."

I understood. That thing was imbued with time energy, and time energy was more powerful than any other. I had expended a great deal of it when I sent that green mist away, and had become very weak...And the TARDIS replenished my body. I was unprepared for just how much energy it was sending my way, and would have absorbed too much...

I had no idea what would happen then, but I didn't want to find out.

"That TARDIS...Will it be safe here overnight?" He nodded.

"It has a cloaking device, and will appear as a statue or a lamppost, or anything inconspicuous enough not to be noticed. Would you like to go back to your apartment?"

I nodded and the Doctor helped me to my feet. I fluttered my wings out behind me to shake free the dirt and grass on them before saying "I think we'll fly this time...I don't want to use any more of my other powers tonight." I feared I would be overcome by the lure of the TARDIS again if I did.

I stood before the Doctor and he asked "Are you sure you can make this trip?" I nodded. "Then let's go." He wrapped his arms around my neck and I put mine around his waist.

"Hold tight." I pushed hard off the ground and we were rocketed high into the air. Our momentum slowed and I unfurled my wings, and their flapping kept us hovering a hundred or so feet above the roof of the school. I looked my new companion in the face and asked "Sure you can handle this?"

"Are you joking? This is fantastic!"

I laughed freely, my worries of just a minute ago momentarily forgotten as I set off into the night.


	2. 11th Doctor

"The Daleks were attacking, there were millions of ships...It was I could do to keep them from spreading across the Universe...Several seemed to have escaped, as they keep coming back again and again to wreak havoc."

The Doctor and I had sat awake in my apartment all night, discussing both of our lives. I'd explained to him about my travels through the Universe and he explained his, even mentioning that he'd had several human companions travel with him. Then I'd asked why he didn't have one of his own kind, a Time Lord, travel with him...and he told me the story of how they'd been destroyed.

"The Daleks were a terrible race...I am sorry you had to make that decision." I had heard stories of the Daleks, even observed their ships from afar when traveling in the past, but had never gone into battle with them head-on. It was against my rule of interfering. "And absolutely none of your kind survived?"

He shook his head. "There were one or two, but they are long gone now...I truly am the last one."

I knew this man must have been in a great amount of pain..."Well, at least you have some pleasant memories of your home world of Gallifrey...You can remember what your parents looked like and who your friends were, and you know when your birthday was...I know none of that." I wiped away a single tear that threatened to spill over. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making this about me..."

"It's alright...It's actually been getting harder for me to remember such things from my childhood. More and more time has passed, and I've regenerated so many times...This is my eleventh face, you know."

The Doctor had mentioned about being able to regenerate...but that many times? "Well, with a handsome face like that, it makes me wonder what your other faces looked like. Is there a limit to how many times you can change?"

The Doctor chuckled. "There was a limit of 13 imposed by the rulers of my world, but seeing as they're no longer here...I have no idea." This man had the potential to live forever...Forever as the only one of his kind. The thought pulled at my two hearts again. "What about your physiology? Anything odd there I should know about?"

I chuckled. "I suppose there might be...There's the wings, the lack of color in my eyes and hair, the fact that I need either pure energy or boatloads of food to survive...There's the quantum-locking and the dual heartbeat...Which one of these would you consider 'odd'?"

The Doctor seemed to freeze. He stared at me with wide eyes, unmoving except for the hand holding a glass bottle of Irn-Bru. It was shaking to the point where it was sloshing out of the bottle. I wrenched it out of his clammy hand and sat it on the table before asking "Doctor? Are you alright? What is it?"

"Quantum locking...You...you can do that?"

I nodded. "I didn't know what it was called for a very long time, only that I could turn to stone whenever I wanted to..." I stood up and brought out my stone facade, but that seemed to throw the Doctor into a panic. He went for his sonic screwdriver again and I quickly shifted back and grabbed him. He struggled to get out of my grip, but I was far stronger than he was. "I told you, I'm not going to attack you!"

"To hêll you aren't! You're one of _them!"_

"One of what?!"

"A Weeping Angel!" Now it was my turn to freeze.

I had never seen a Weeping Angel before, and had only heard rumors of them. They were a vicious race that had been terrorizing creatures since the beginning of the Universe, and had taken out entire planets in their endless quest for energy. But I couldn't be one of them...Could I?

I released the Doctor and collapsed back onto the sofa.

"Only Weeping Angels have the ability to turn to stone...but they do it when being viewed by another creature...And they certainly don't have two hearts...What _are_ you?" The Doctor stowed his sonic screwdriver, but remained on alert. I have only met with 7 species in all the universe with a binary vascular system, my own being one of them..."

"But...I can't be a Weeping Angel...I can't be a Gallifreyan either...I...I don't know what the hêll is going on here!" I buried my face in my hands. "This is so confusing...You showed up and I thought maybe you would be able to tell me what I was, but this..? This is insane..."

"I can't be sure _what_ you are without running some sort of test...A bunch of tests...Come, we'll go back to the TARDIS and..."

I shook my head. "No. That thing, that TARDIS, as you call it...It gives off _enormous_ amounts of energy, and I don't know if I can handle all of that...You brought me inside yesterday and I nearly lost control!"

His lips pursed. "Weeping Angels feed on Time energy, the energy located at the Heart of the TARDIS...If you are an Angel, or some mutated thing like them, then you must've drew upon the TARDIS' energy to recover from the battle with Fegovy...That's my theory, at least. Come on, if you lose control, I've got a thing that can smash you to bits, just like a real Angel." He twiddled his sonic screwdriver between his fingers and I glared openly.

I retrieved my trench coat and cinched it tightly before taking the Doctor's hands. I gave him no warning this time before I whisked us away from my apartment, and when we landed, he nearly emptied the contents of his stomach like last time. I offered no help, instead waiting by his blue box until he recovered.

I had sympathy for the man, but he had just threatened to smash me to bits.

He stood and pulled out the small key that unlocked his TARDIS, and I hesitated before following him inside. I had control of myself, I would not give in to my desires...

I couldn't help but be hit full-force by the energy within it again. I was able to tame my desires this time, at least to the point where I could block my body from absorbing any more energy. I could still feel it radiating all around me, and that would undoubtedly drive me mad.

I followed the Doctor deep into his TARDIS, up some stairs and down a maze of corridors to what appeared to be a medical centre. This was not the first time I had seen such space-compression technology, but I had to admit, this was impressive. There looked to be hundreds of rooms and halls inside, containing god-knows-what.

The medical centre seemed to be fully equipped with anything the Doctor could ever need health-wise, but looked like it hadn't been entered in ages. The equipment wasn't out of date, it was actually advanced compared to what was available in 2013, but I could tell most of it hadn't ever been operated.

"This is an excellent place you've got here..." Even this far away from the centre of the TARDIS, the waves of Time energy were as strong as ever. "What exactly did you want to do in here?"

"You say you've got two hearts. I'd like to have a look at them." I raised an eyebrow. "A listen?"

I went to a bank of drawers and searched until I found a stethoscope. "Feel free, Doctor. Or should it be Dr. Doctor?" He laughed as I removed my coat and draped it over a rolling chair. I sat on a paper-covered bed, smiling to myself at how it truly resembled a hospital room. I unbuttoned my white linen shirt and turned from the Doctor. "Some assistance?"

He unzipped the two zippers that came down from the wing holes I'd had tailored into the shirt, and all my shirts, and I lifted the garment over my head. "Without my powers, I don't think I'd ever be able to get dressed by myself in the mornings." He chuckled again.

I sat in my bra, a rather delightful human invention, on the bed as the Doctor pressed the stethoscope first to one side of my chest, and then the other. Seeming satisfied with that, he asked me to turn. "May I inspect them?"

"Feel free..." I felt him press his fingers to where my wings joined with my body. I knew he was feeling to see if they were fake.

His hands trailed along their great length. "Would you turn?"

"Turn...?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Into a statue."

"Alright..." I shifted and was frozen in place, and could barely feel how the Doctor felt along my wings and skin now. He murmured something and I shifted back. "What?"

"You do have their characteristics...But I shouldn't be able to stand here and have a conversation with you. Angels are forced to freeze when anything looks at them, and they are a naturally savage species...I haven't ever known them to be able to breed, except turning normal statues into one of their own. There is _no_ explanation for this..."

"How about we focus on why I have two hearts, hm? You said there were only 7 species with two hearts. Isn't there some kind of blood-analyzing equipment in this room that can tell which species I am?"

"I think I do have something..." He went rummaging around the room for several minutes, and came back with something that looked exactly like his sonic screwdriver, only red and twice as big. "Borrowed this from a fairly stupid Judoon."

The end shone blue as he scanned me with it. "Well, two different species came up...One unidentified, which is probably the Angel half..."

I waited but he said nothing. "And? What about the second?"

"Gallifreyan." I was prepared for the possibility, but I still found myself in shock. "I don't understand how it would be possible...There were laws preventing my kind from consorting with other species, and Weeping Angels were among our worst enemies...Are you sure you remember nothing?"

I nodded. "As I told you, I was abandoned as an infant..."

He threw his hands in the air. "I don't understand that either! There was a curse that made all Time Lords sterile, so if you're really thousands of years old, there's no way you could have been naturally born to one of us!"

I scowled at the Doctor. "Don't you place blame on me, as if any of this could possibly be my fault. I've thought about going back to the day of my birth thousands of times, but I wouldn't know where to start. I wouldn't even know _when_ to start! So unless you've got some sort of contraption that can tell me who my parents are or when I was born, we're out of luck."

The Doctor surprised me by grinning. I groaned. "You have got a device, haven't you?"

"Something like that. Come with me." I stood up and followed the Doctor back into the labyrinth of his TARDIS., leaving my things behind in the medical centre.

We went deeper inside, down more long corridors and up and down more stairs, going so far that I wondered if the Doctor would remember the way back. If I had to make on observation...I'd even say that the halls were _changing_ as we went further in.

After several minutes, I asked "How deep does this TARDIS go?"

"It hundreds, thousands of rooms...Practically infinite. But we're here."

The Doctor allowed me to enter a room that looked like an experimentation room. There were two chairs with head apparatuses attached to a vast computer. I wondered if the computer read vital signs and brain waves and such. "What are we doing in here? Going to look at my head?"

"No. This is...the Matrix." I raised an eyebrow. "It contains data from every deceased Time Lord since the beginning of our race. When they were destroyed in the Time War...Their data was downloaded into the Matrix, and I copied the Matrix here."

"You destroyed your people, yet you did not want to destroy their memories...How sweet." The Doctor didn't respond. "So, how does this work?"

"Sit." I sat in one of the chairs, and he put the apparatus around my head. "It's a type of virtual reality. You'll have to find your way to the information you need. I can come inside and assist you..."

I shook my head. "You should stay out here, in case anything...happens. It'd be unfortunate if the coalesced memories of one of your colleagues tried to murder me while I'm in there." I wasn't an idiot. With this kind of technology, sending my waking mind into a computer like this...I could die.

"If anything happens, I will pull you out. You'll be able to tell which of us is your parent, because you will be able to read their energy...But be careful. Your powers may not be able to work while inside, and I have long suspected that some of my people are...hiding out inside."

"They can do that?" He shrugged. "Well, send me on in..."

The Doctor flipped a few switched and I closed my eyes, and when I opened them...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was vast. And crowded. I could see the faces of millions of past Time Lords milling about. Some wore intricate robes of bright colors, and some wore 'present day' clothes, and some wore things that I didn't even recognize. There were men, women, old, young...My two hearts tightened at the sight of younglings. It must've been after I was born that whatever curse had been upon Gallifrey was lifted, and they were allowed to have natural births again.

After the first few moments of shock, I set off. The Doctor was right. I could tell every bit of information from the other, even seeing multiples of the same people. They must've been able to upload information after every regeneration.

There was almost no order to the information as well. I would encounter one bit from the time the planet was destroyed, and then another right after from a million years previous. It was maddening. I reached out with my powers, despite what the Doctor had said, to feel for anyone familiar. I might not've remembered, but my body...it would recognize someone of my own blood. It had to.

I stood stock still as I searched, feeling nothing for the longest time. Then, like a whisper in the breeze, I felt something...It was barely there, as if whatever it was emanating from was so far off it couldn't reach me properly. I turned in that direction, hurrying fast. The signal was moving though, and I pushed myself faster. I drew upon my newly discovered heritage, of my Weeping Angel half, and shot off like a bullet. Speeding between the bits of information disguised as people, moving at an incredible pace.

The signal was so strong here I could almost feel it, and slowed back down. This area of the Matrix, oddly enough, was nearly deserted. The ones that wandered here looked lost, confused, as if they didn't know why they were there. I read the information of one, discovering he was an outcast of Gallifrey. An exile.

Was my mother or father an exile as well?

I practically tiptoed along as I followed the signal further and further away from the main herd of information. Why was my parent so far out of the fray? What had they done so wrong that their information had to be kept so...alone?

When I was so far away from the others that they could no longer be seen, I finally reached someone. It was a woman. She had long, straight hair of the darkest black, and when she turned to face me, I saw my same silver eyes embedded in her face. There was no mistaking that this was the downloaded memories of my mother.

She smiled as if she actually recognized me, and her melodic voice voice said with a sigh "Shelby..."

I froze in my place.


	3. Mother

I took a step back. "There aren't supposed to be any living beings here...Only their information, their memories..."

"Is that not what makes a person a person? Their memories coalescing together to create their personality, their behavior, and everything that makes them _them?"_

I smirked. This woman really must've been my mother. Nobody I'd ever met had the gall to speak to me that way. And nobody I'd met seemed so comfortable with the wings that were sprouted from my back.

"Well, if you really are my mother, and not just some bit of information...then you must know why I'm here."

"Yes, I do. You want to know about your father. The Angel." I nodded. "It has been many thousands of years since I was with him...When Gallifrey was destroyed, I brought myself here because I knew you would want to find me eventually...It was just a matter of waiting. Waiting for the Doctor to find you."

"So you know him...who was he?"

"I...do not know his name. Nobody knows his name. But he was a rogue Time Lord that stole the TARDIS to go off on his own...With the immense power at your control, I knew he would find you. I had hoped that it would not be him capturing you..."

I could hear the questioning tone of her voice. She was asking me of the Doctor had taken me.

"He found me and I assisted him. I've come aboard the TARDIS willingly...Almost. The energy radiating from this machine...It very nearly overwhelmed me the first time I experienced it yesterday."

She nodded, as if she expected that to happen. "If you have not been consuming energy as a normal Weeping Angel, you will find yourself...hungry. You were that way when you were born. I would feed you, but it was never enough...So your father would bring energy to you that he had collected. It worked, for a time."

"My father...how had you and he...been together? He was an Angel, you two couldn't have looked each other in the eye without him turning to stone..."

She nodded again. "He was starved when I found him. So starved that he could not send me back in time when I touched him. I brought him into a special room, a Zero Room, so that he would be cut off from the rest of the Universe...The room had the curious effect of negating his powers as well."

"So this Zero Room...it allowed you two to be together?" She nodded. "You couldn't have stayed in there the whole time though."

She shook her head. "It was in this room that I found out your father had starved himself on purpose. He did not want to continue living as an Angel. It was a lonely life, and he had been living it almost since the beginning of this Universe...I was sympathetic. I was the daughter of a king, I..."

"So, what? You were basically a princess?" Another nod, and my mouth dropped open.

"Gallifrey was not always ruled by a President. I was an outcast because I was from the old times of the monarchy, and so I connected with your father...I did eventually remove him from the Zero Room, and when we were together outside...he was careful. He was sure not to send me to the past when we touched, and when we...created you."

My mother blushed slightly. She was _definitely_ of my blood.

"Okay, I get all of that...But what about the infertility curse? Or why I was abandoned? Or how about telling me where my father had been all these centuries?" Her face fell. I knew I was being harsh, but I couldn't help myself. I'd been alone for so long without any kind of knowledge about who or what I was.

"The power of that curse was almost nothing compared to your father's power...He overshadowed the curse while we were together, allowing me to become pregnant with you...We were together for an entire year after you were born, keeping our tryst a secret from my people and his. If the other Angels had found out the child he had created, they would have come for you. Taken you and used you for their own purposes...I could not let that happen."

"So you left me." My mother turned from me with a sad face.

I heard the faint sounds of sobbing, but I did not go to her. I had wanted to meet this woman for years, centuries, millennia...But now that I had met her, all I wanted to do was run in the opposite direction. She had done something she had no business doing when she created me and then left me to my own devices. As an infant!

I heard the sounds of approaching footsteps and was unsurprised to see the Doctor approaching. I almost expected him to disobey what I had said and enter the Matrix to follow after me. My mother turned to see the oncoming stranger and I saw the tears streaming down her face.

He came to my side and said "Shelby...What has been taking you so long?"

"I've had quite a bit of information to take in...from my mother." I motioned and his eyes grew wide. "I take it you didn't know she was hiding out here?"

"No...I had no idea..." He stared at her for a moment, and a look of recognition spread across his face. And then it changed to...reverence? "Princess Rosé?!"

"Wait, you know her!?"

"Only from old stories...She was the oldest of us, having survived over a million years, since the time of the monarchy...But one day, she just disappeared. Not many Gallifreyans cared to look for her, since the monarchy wasn't exactly popular..." My mother made a face, as if his words brought up unpleasant memories.

"Unpopular is too loose a term, I believe. I might as well have been chased off that planet. Be glad you were not yet alive to witness it, young one." She turned back to me. "Before your father and I left you, we imprinted you with all of the knowledge that you would need to survive, including my own language of Old Gallifreyan. I had been very closed-off from other species, and so that was the only language I knew at the time. I intended to go find you once you had grown, to explain what had happened and who you were..."

"And then Gallifrey was destroyed." We both gave the Doctor a pointed look. "How were you able to save yourself?"

"On Gallifrey, there was a doorway that allowed one to physically enter the Matrix, not just enter with their mind. I came inside before the Matrix was copied here onto this TARDIS, and so I was copied along with it."

Before I had the chance to answer the question on my own, the Doctor piped up and inquired "You have explained your struggles and your losses, but where has Shelby's father been in all of this?"

She glared at him so sternly, I was almost surprised he did not burst into flames. It was clear that my mother held a great dislike for this man. It was understandable, since he had destroyed her planet. But it had been for a worthwhile cause, and so I did not share her contempt.

"I sent him away. Through time and space before Gallifrey was destroyed. I suspect he went back later to find me, but all he would have found was the burned-out shell of the great planet that once was. So I do not know where her father has been all these years. I could not know, because I have been waiting here for you. Waiting for you to bring me to my daughter."

The Doctor looked expectedly unpleasant. He grabbed me by the elbow and said "Come Shelby, I'm taking you out of here."

I did not argue with him. I turned from my mother and we began walking, but my mother shouted out "What are you going to do?! You cannot go looking for your father, for the other Angels will find you!"

I spun back around for my response. "My mother could have saved me. Could have saved us. He could have taken us to any time, any place you wanted; you know he had the power. But you chose to send him away and hide me from the Universe. Did you not think of how that would make me feel?"

I turned and the Doctor and I headed back the way we came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I tore the apparatus off my head and stormed out of the room. The Doctor followed after me, calling out "Shelby..!"

I used my powers, which were apparently Angel powers, and teleported back to the main room of the TARDIS. The Doctor would have to take his time meandering back through the long and confusing corridors of his machine while I stepped out the front door and slammed it behind me.

We were still near the Edinburgh University campus, and the first faculty members were beginning to trickle in before the first classes started. I had a Latin class first thing in the morning. I looked to make sure nobody was around before teleporting back to my apartment. Everything was in its usual position, except for the two Irn-Brus that sat on the table. The Doctor and I had been drinking those.

Hating to do it, I poured them down the sink and deposited the bottles in my blue box, to be taken outside when recycling day arrived. I looked down at the box and a moment of disgust flashed quickly through my mind. I remembered calling the Doctor's machine a 'blue box.'

I went into my bedroom and saw the closet door open, from when the Doctor had first started his investigation into what we eventually found to be Fegovy. My harness lay on the closet floor, and disgust flashed in me again.

And then the disgust grew to loathing, and then to complete revulsion. I picked the leather-and-metal contraption and tore it to shreds with my bare hands. I would never again wear it if I could help it. If others looked at me as a freak, an anomaly, so be it. Because that was exactly what I was.

My father was of a race of psychopathic killers and had never come to find me, and my mother was a fallen princess that didn't presage what ramifications her actions would have on her own bâstârd child. My heritage was beginning to feel like an Earth sitcom. A sad, ironic, terrible excuse for a sitcom.

I looked back to my closet, where I kept all of the nicer clothes I bought here on Earth, and some from other planets and times as well. I probably had a limited amount of time before the Doctor eventually found his way back to my apartment, and if I wanted to get out of here fast, I would have to leave most of my precious possessions behind. I would at least take my favorites.

A gold backless dress from Earth, 2,000 or so years in the future. I liked it because it was backless, which was comforting to my wings, especially with how they were usually bound up. Matching gold stiletto sandals with a twisted band connecting the toe and ankle straps, and twisted hoop earrings. Two gold criss-crossing bracelets that covered a whole 1/3 of my forearm completed the look.

With my Angel speed, I was dressed in a matter of moments. I felt a pang of regret at having to leave all my possessions behind, but it was necessary. As was telling the University that I was leaving. It would be risky with the Doctor so near, but I would not leave my students without an explanation. They deserved better than that.

I fetched my black trench coat and made sure everything was in order before I teleported back to the school. I went directly to the office and demanded that I speak with the Headmaster. Seeing as how he'd just arrived and hadn't yet had a meeting, my 'request' was granted almost immediately.

The Headmaster was a squat man gray hair and wrinkled skin, what most students would think of as a 'typical' school head. He spoke with the thick accent that was typical of these parts as well.

He smiled as I entered his room. "Professur Sorensen...haw guid it is tae see ye. But sae early in th' morn." He motioned to the leather chair across from his desk. "Please, sit."

"No thank you. I've come to deliver you some possibly upsetting news." He raised an eyebrow. "I must leave the University. Immediately."

"Wa? Ye hae bin sic' an stoat teacher haur. Best scores it ay anyain we've ever hud, in fact." I cringed a bit on the inside. If I wasn't so well versed in all manner of languages, I might not have understood what he was saying.

"A situation has come up with my parents...It requires my immediate attention."

"Aam sorry tae hear...It will tak' some time tae gie a substitute oan sic' cuttie notice. Can ye gie us onie time at aw?"

I sighed. "Perhaps...I can teach my Latin class this morning. That will be all the time I can provide before I have to prepare for my departure." He nodded.

"Ah will make a caa tae see if onie substitutes ur available...It will be less bricht ay a place withit ye haur, Shelby." I smiled briefly before exiting the Headmaster's office.

It was always rather awkward when I had to have personal conversation with him, but then again, I felt awkward with most people.

It was down two corridors to where my room sat empty and waiting. I had no teacher's assistant, preferring to teach my classes alone. No students had arrived yet, and that gave me time to do what I wanted. I had never tried to hide my wings before, because I rarely ever had the need to. But if Angels could lose their powers when they starved, maybe they could lose their wings too. And maybe that meant I could at least suppress mine.

I focused my energy on the two areas of my back where the wings grew from. I willed them to disappear. There was a moment of nothing, and then a great pain shot through my body. I nearly fell forward onto the floor from the force of it. It lanced up and down my body, burning my veins as it went.

I stay in my position, hands on knees and breathing insanely hard, until the pain began to subside. I noticed instantly that I felt weaker, but also that I could feel the black cotton-blend material touching the skin of my back. I shed my coat and reached my arm back, feeling nothing but skin on my back. There was a slight ridge where my wings had receded, but even that was shrinking.

I had done it. I made a mental promise to myself to never _ever_ do it again after this day though. Not if it hurt that terribly bad and made me feel so weak.

Once I was safely steady on my feet, I walked out of the room and leaned on the wall beside the doorway to wait for my students to arrive. It was several minutes before they did, and I got many stares. Students simply passing by in the halls stared as well, and I heard a great many whispers with my over-sensitive hearing.

_Who is __**that?**_  
_That looks like Professor Sorensen..._  
_I didn't know she was hot?!_

I chuckled to myself. This was the first time this semester that my students would see me in something other than my usual trench coat. I'd be surprised if there weren't any shocked reactions from some of them. My chuckle turned into a full-blown laugh when I noticed students, most of them male, that weren't even in my class enter my classroom. That was all well and fine. This would be my last class at the University; I could afford to break the rules a bit and let them stay.

Once the classroom was good and full, fuller than it had ever been in my time here, I stepped inside and shut the door. It looked like every seat was filled, which was a first. I turned to go to my desk but there was a knock at the door, and I froze when I saw who it was.

The Doctor stood just outside the glass with a smug smile on his face, waving. I begrudgingly went and opened it just far enough to let him in.

I muttered "Why have you come to my school?"

"You ran from the TARDIS. I had to find you." He took a quick look around the room. "It seems you have a few extra male admirers in your class today."

"That would most likely be because of how provocatively I am dressed, Doctor. Do you like it?" I put my hand on my hip as he looked me up and down with wide eyes.

"You do look...good. Your wings..?"

"Hidden. Just like I will be after I am done teaching my final class. Now if you would kindly sit while I begin..." The Doctor began jerking his way to the chair at my desk with a panicked expression. I had commanded him to sit using my powers, and he would remain there until I wished otherwise. I turned to face the class next. "Hey there guys...and girls."

There was a general murmur. "Now, I know there are a few more of you here than are supposed to be here...but with the news I'm about to give you, I'll let that go." A happier murmur. "This is going to be the last time I'm teaching you, and my last class ever. I'm leaving the University today."

The general happiness turned immediately to unhappiness and anger. One kid shouted out "Why?"

"An emergency has emerged with my parents, and I must help. I know it's rather sudden, but they live quite far away, and it would be impossible to continue teaching here while taking care of them." That seemed like a plausible story, and close enough to the truth that I didn't feel guilty for saying it. "I've decided that I'm not actually going to teach today...We're going to have a bit of a 'personal day.'"

"What?"

I rolled my eyes. "There is pizza on the way here, and if anyone's got music on their phone, feel free to bring it up here." As the words came flowing from my mouth, I used my powers to make them come true. With how weak I was, this would probably drain me almost completely, but it was worth it. These kids deserved a proper goodbye, even the ones that didn't really belong here.

There was a general cheer, and several of the male students stood up. They argued amongst themselves about who would get to go up front, but I motioned to one of them in the front row. He was a scrawny thing, but extremely intelligent. And had the biggest crush on me.

He scurried up and I said "Go to the Headmaster's office and inform him about the pizzas that are arriving, and please retrieve them for me." I handed him a €100 banknote and he blushed before hurrying off. "Now, about that music..." I pulled out a small portable speaker that attached to my MP3 player and plugged it in.

The students had finally stopped arguing and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some of them even abandoned their things at their seats and came down onto the floor to speak with me, and some sat on their desks or on the windowsills to just enjoy the atmosphere of the room. It was a goodbye, but I was making it a good one.

The pizzas arrived about 20 minutes later, hot and steaming and smelling delicious. I took the change from my student and lined the pizzas along my desk, and let everyone have freedom with them.

I leaned against the wall beside where I was still forcing the Doctor to sit, a slight smile on my face. "This makes a nice goodbye, doesn't it? Definitely better than blowing up the planet."

"Where are you planning on going after this?" I shrugged.

"Somewhere you won't be able to find me, most likely." I turned to look at him. His brown hair was a bit disheveled, and his dark green eyes watched me intently. If I weren't so angry, I might've called him attractive. "I thought I had found a friend in you. What my mother did was not ideal, I could go so far as to call it _wrong,_ but it was entirely preventable. If my mother had not been shunned by your society, she would not have gone out looking for trouble and found my father."

"And you blame me for that?" I shook my head and he looked confused. "Then why are you so angry with me?"

"I'm more angry at myself...for not realizing the truth earlier and making an effort to fix it." His eyes darkened as he began to understand. "Long ago, when I discovered I could travel through time and space, I made a solemn vow to never interfere with things that were happening, because they might drive the future off course in unimaginable ways. Now, I am thinking I should have interfered long ago."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, you absolutely _cannot_ do that! Not only is there a time-lock around the destruction of Gallifrey, it would cause untold damage to the current time if you went back to save it. And you would be setting billions of Daleks free into the Universe!"

"You misunderstand me, Doctor. I don't intend to stop the destruction of Gallifrey. I intend to stop my own birth. I have been miserable for a great many centuries, and should the rest of those Weeping Angels find me, you can kiss this Universe goodbye. You know this to be true."

The Doctor sighed. "Perhaps it would...but destroying yourself before you get the chance to live will not make anything better!" I turned up the music a bit to keep any of my students from hearing my conversation with the Doctor. "Preventing your own birth may, in fact, make things infinitely worse...What if you stop your conception, and your mother is caught with a Weeping Angel? The council of Gallifrey will have her head, and that is not a figurative statement."

"What if I do something terrible in my future though? Hm? What if I switch sides and begin interfering in everything and then you wish you'd let me go back and do this? What then?"

"It won't happen." I narrowed my eyes. "I won't let it happen."

"And how not?"

"By taking you with me." I froze. I was so astounded by the words that had come out of the Doctor's mouth, that my powers slipped and he got up out of my chair. "If you become my new companion, I can keep watch over you to make sure you don't turn evil. Breaking the time lock on Gallifrey would be the worst thing you could possibly do, and if keeping an eye on you for the rest of eternity is what would prevent that, than I will gladly do it."

I took a step back from this strange man that had just volunteered to keep me company for the rest of eternity. He wasn't serious, was he?

"Do you realize what you just said..? I'm not one of your human companions that will age and have to be dumped off because they've become too much a trouble to bear. I won't age, I won't change, and I won't guarantee that you won't get hurt while you're with me."

The Doctor smirked. "Did you not listen to anything I've told you in the short time we've been together? You're more at risk of being hunted and killed if _you_ travel with _me._ I am the enemy of the Daleks, Time Lords, Cybermen, Nestenes, The Silence, and thousands of other species on thousands of other planets. So, are you up to the challenge, or are you going to let down the name of Princess Shelby of Old Gallifrey?"

I chuckled. "I am no princess...My mother was the princess. I'm just a lonely old woman with a pair of pretty wings, looking for an adventure."

"Going to accompany me on my adventure?" I shrugged.

"Perhaps I will."


End file.
